Overview of faculty reappointment, tenure, and promotion for new faculty

David JonesTami Benham Deal

Office of Academic Affairs

I. What is Tenure?II. Standards and CriteriaIII. Faculty Career PathIV. PortfoliosV. Review ProcessesVI. Career Strategies

See web resources listed at the end. Acknowledgement: Myron Allen and Nicole Ballenger

University Regulations

Photo source: http://guamwaterworks.org/rules-regs/

• Designation/Appointments• UW 5-1 (Professors, APs)• UW 7-490 (Archivist)• UW 7-631 (Librarians)

• Review Process/Procedures • UW 5-803 (Tenure Track)• UW 7-490 (Archivist)• UW 7-631 (Librarians

Expectations by rank (from UW Regulation 5-1)

Assistant professors shall normally have the doctor's degree in course, and shall have demonstrated ability, through appropriate experience, to perform the functions of the position they are to hold.

Associate professors shall normally have the doctor's degree in course, shall have established a reputation in scholarship, teaching, artistic creation, or other productive activity in the field in which they are to serve.

Professors, in addition to having the qualifications of associate professors, shall have demonstrated superior capacity for direction of graduate work and research where appropriate, have attained wide recognition in their professional fields for scholarship or other creative work, and shall have gained recognition as teachers and as consistent contributors to the fields in which they are to render University service. It is not anticipated that each faculty member will attain the rank of full professor.

Expectations by rank (from UW Regulation 7-490)

Assistant Archivist: This rank designates the beginning level of archives administration and special-collections curatorship and generally requires little or no professional experience. It requires adequate performance of assigned archives administration and special collections curatorship.

Associate Archivist: This rank designates a faculty member who has established a reliable track record and demonstrates commitment to continued excellence … It requires consistent expert professional performance, active participation in the profession, and sound scholarship. This rank carries the expectation of continuing professional development or experience

Archivist: Appointment or promotion to this rank is reserved for individuals who have made distinctive contributions over a significant period of time.

Expectations by rank (from UW Regulation 7-631)

Assistant Librarian. This rank designates the beginning level of librarianship and generally requires little or no pertinent experience. Shows promise as an academic librarian as demonstrated by performance and experience

Associate Librarian. Demonstrates expertise in librarianship and a high level of creative and analytical ability in performing job responsibilities (including teaching, administration and/or outreach, sustained research, scholarly activities, or creative activities; and leadership).

Librarian. Appointment or promotion to this rank is reserved for individuals who have made distinctive contributions over a significant period of time.

A. Legal view: tenure is an employment contract. An appointment with tenure • has no specified end date,• can be ended only for specific reasons (discussed next).

Principles recognized in case law: • There is no guarantee of tenure.• Tenure necessarily involves subjective decisions.• The review takes many factors into account.• There are many levels of review and recommendation.• Only the Board of Trustees can confer tenure.

I. What is Tenure?

B. Philosophic view: tenure and academic freedom have social utility.

“Academic freedom and tenure … exist in order that society may have the benefit of honest judgment and independent criticism which otherwise might be withheld because of fear of offending a dominant social group or transient social attitude.”

Clark Byse and Louis Joughin, Tenure in American Higher Education: Plans, Practices, and the Law (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1959), p. 4.

C. Institutional setting

UW is a doctorate-granting research university.

This classification colors UW’s hiring practices as well as its standards for reappointment, tenure and promotion.

We hire people based on their promise in teaching, research, and service, and we expect them to be good at them all.

There’s no fixed number of tenured slots. It’s possible for all tenure-track appointees to earn tenure.

II. STANDARDS AND CRITERIA

The key question:

Does the candidate’s record reflect both the commitment and the promise to sustain a career-long record of effective teaching and advising, scholarship at the forefronts of knowledge, and effective service?

It’s not a matter of clearing the bar. Your colleagues will be trying to predict your future performance.

How do we answer this question?

• Strong teaching, demonstrated early.

• Capacity for strong scholarship, critical for teachers to remain effective throughout their careers.

• Review of scholarly work by nationally or internationally recognized peers, as well as by UW students and faculty. You have to be a player in the game.

• Service (caption re: UP4 – public engagement)

Initiative and leadership count!

Research and/or Creative Contributions

Teaching Extension, Professional Service, & University-Related Activities

What about Collegiality?

• Collegiality: ability to work both independently and constructively with others

• Collegiality is not evaluated as a separate attribute • Collegiality comes into play if it has a negative effect on

the research, teaching, and/or service mission of the department/college/university

0 6 12

Employment year

Hired as Assistant Professor

Annual probationary reappointment or dismissal(possible to skip 3rd & 5th reviews)

Tenure and promotion to Associate Professor, or contract ends

Promotion to Professor (optional)

III. FACULTY CAREER PATH

Not tied to years of service, but a period of additional

growth that results in a greater level of

accomplishment and intellectual leadership is

expected

IV. PORTFOLIO

Documentation of performance• Teaching evaluations (students, peers, administrators)• Research record (publications, grants, creative work)• Service (UW committees, statewide service,

professional organizations)

Evidence of progress• Job description and expectations• Record of previous years’ recommendations at all levels• Written evaluations by candidate, peers, and administrators

External evaluations• Letters from outside experts (T&P cases)• Letters from former students (optional, but…)

See Academic Affairs website for detailed list of contents

Does the evidence meet department and discipline

standards?

What are your

duties?

Level of quality or

attainment

• Systematically design your packet.– Follow College Guidelines– Table of Contents– Clearly label sections

Tip #1OrganizeOrganizeOrganize

• Know your audience.• Don’t assume that your colleagues will understand your

research, teaching, and service.• The further your packet makes it through the system,

the less familiar your audience will be.• Seek out external feedback.

Tip #2Prepare your packet

for the“stranger”

Provide evidence of progress by drawing connections between your research, teaching, and service/extension performance to:

– Department (Discipline) Expectations– College Mission – University Mission/Academic Plan

Tip #3Faculty Essay

Connect the Dots!

• Precise and concise statement that “connects the dots.”– Remember your audience.

• It is not about educating your audience about your research, teaching or service.

• It is about providing evidence of your scholarship, teaching effectiveness, and service.

How to construct the essay (narrative)

Have you addressed these questions about scholarship?

• Research plan• How does my research contribute to the body of

knowledge in my discipline?• What is the impact of my research?• How is my research novel?• What makes my research relevant and meaningful?

Where am I now?Where am I going?How will the reviewer know I got there?

Does your essay do this?

• Show trajectory … connect the dots.• Illustrate how:

– grants lead to publications? – presentations lead to publications?– publications lead to publications?

Does your reflection on teaching do this?

• Explain why you choose teaching strategies and methods?

• Illustrate how you use feedback (i.e., student, peer, self) to modify and/or retain teaching strategies and methods?

• Show connections to research- or evidence-based best practice?

• Show a trajectory of improvement and/or sustained excellence?

Does your reflection on service?

• Provide evidence of contributing to the service mission of the university?

• Reflect public engagement beyond the university community?

• Provide evidence of your leadership role in service activities?

External peer review

Department faculty review

Department head’s recommendation

College-level faculty review

College dean’s recommendation

University-level faculty review

Review by Academic Affairs

Trustees’ action

Review by President (on appeal)

V. REVIEW PROCESSES

A

B

C

A. Department-level review• Solicitation of external letters (T&P cases)• Review and vote by faculty peers• Recommendation by department head

Example peer remark (reappointment):

“For someone with a 60% teaching split, who has taught for two years in another institution before coming to the University of Wyoming, her progress in teaching is unsatisfactory. … _____ is much more suited to clinical settings or pure research.”

TEACHING COUNTS!

Outcome: resignation in the face of a negative reappointment recommendation from Academic Affairs

Example: external letters from• Colby College• Columbia University• Dartmouth College• Duke University• Oberlin College

“Professor ______’s scholarship is bold in treating major authors and issues, careful in its close reading of primary texts and its consideration of secondary literature, and scrupulous in its honesty and clarity. I have found his work of genuine value for my own teaching and writing.” [From Duke University]

UW Regulation 5-803 requires a minimum of 4 letters from arm’s-length reviewers.

Letters from co-workers and former students are okay, but they must be in addition to the required letters.

Suggestion for newly minted assistant professors:

• Make a list of important scholars in your field.• Make sure it has wide representation and heft.• Send them copies of your work as you complete it.

B. College-level review• Review and vote by faculty-elected college committee• Recommendation by dean

Example remark from college committee:

“It is clear from _____’s packet, especially the comments made by the external reviewers, that he has achieved a regional, national, and international reputation for his work… . His record of securing external funding and publishing his work are exceptional. Student evaluations of his teaching have consistently been positive and his graduate students have been very successful in terms of their ability to produce peer-reviewed products.”

Firing on all cylinders

C. University-level review• Review by faculty-elected university committee, if required• Recommendation by VP for Academic Affairs

Example UT&P comment (tenure):

“This case presents an all-too-familiar pattern: fine teacher, great citizen who is … succeeding at tasks necessary for the department, college, and university, but doing so at the expense of … research development.”

Lesson to be learned:

Good performance in one dimension of the job description doesn’t trump inattention to other dimensions.

D. Trustees’ action

• Only positive cases forwarded• March for first-year cases; May for all others

There is no tenure until the Trustees confer it.

UW does not recognize “de facto” tenure (and neither do courts).

2011 2012 2013 20140%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

130 143 133110

2721 22 31

6 6 01 2

Reappointment, Tenure and Promotion Outcomes 2011-14

Reappointed Tenured Resigned Not Reappointed/Tenured

VI. CAREER STRATEGIES

1. Become a versatile, engaging teacher.2. Identify and cultivate a national or international

audience for your scholarly activities.3. If external funding is available in your field, develop and

follow a plan for seeking it.4. Find ways to connect your scholarly work with your

teaching.5. Select a meaningful array of service activities.6. Learn how to be a leader.7. Maintain a love of your discipline.

These are strategies for staying sane, not just for getting tenure!

UW Regulation 5-1.E:

Faculty members on tenure may be dismissed only for cause or because of bona fide financial exigencies of the University. "Cause" is defined to include any conduct which seriously impairs the ability of the University of Wyoming to carry out its functions, including physical or mental incapacity, incompetence, neglect of duty, dishonesty, immorality or conviction of a felony.

Web resources:

Academic Affairs website (several documents):www.uwyo.edu/AcadAffairs/promotion/

UniReg 803, General Counsel website:www.uwyo.edu/generalcounsel/new-regulatory-structure/academic-personnel.html

QUESTIONS?